


A Story Just Begun

by bergann



Category: Numb3rs, Stargate Atlantis
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-09
Updated: 2010-07-09
Packaged: 2017-10-14 19:50:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/152838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bergann/pseuds/bergann
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"What, so you don't think it's weird that 150 people are all saying there's some mysteriously mostly invisible city hidden in the San Francisco Bay?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Story Just Begun

**Author's Note:**

  * For [clwilson2006](https://archiveofourown.org/users/clwilson2006/gifts).



> I was bought in the Sweet Charity ([](http://community.livejournal.com/sweetcharityvox/profile)[ **sweetcharityvox**](http://community.livejournal.com/sweetcharityvox/)) auction and prompted with _"End of Season 5 SGA, set on Earth. I want declassification fic, They can't hide the City floating in San Fransisco Bay, Lorne getting to tell Colby what he's been upto for the last five years. Lorne getting to sneak Colby into the city and show him around. Either POV."_

"So you're going to be stationed stateside now?" Colby asks, feeling confused. He'd gotten the impression that wherever it was Evan was stationed was kind of a permanent thing for him, unlikely that he'd take up a position anywhere else unless something happened. There's been nothing in the news about any base being destroyed, and even a black ops base would be mentioned in vague terms if it had been destroyed. The move doesn't make sense.

"Sort of," Evan says, "It was supposed to be just temporary, but there's been some complications so for the time being, I'll be traveling back and forth."

"From location too secret to know A to location too secret to know B," Colby says, amused.

"Last I checked, San Francisco wasn't a secret," Evan answers. "I'd think I know if it was, since I grew up here."

"What's there in San Francisco?" Colby asks.

"Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment," Evan replies, which is the most straight-forward answer Colby's ever gotten from him about his work. "I guess they figured my degree could come in handy other places too while everything is...uncertain."

"Huh," Colby says, staring at the muted TV where Adam and Jamie have just blown up a cement truck. "Who would have thought intellectual education could actually be used?"

"You're more brawn than I am," Evan says, "There's no reason to take that tone."

"Just as there's no reason to be rude," Colby says, "I think you just called me stupid."

"Sorry," Evan says, "Bad day, but not completely unfounded. I heard about your case. Apparently you gave a great show of strength."

Colby frowns. "How do you know that was me? I wasn't mentioned by name."

"Don talked about how a member of his team realized the danger was bigger than assumed and went in to disarm the robber before he could shoot the hostage." Evan says, "And I know David's not stupid enough to do that."

*

"Man, have you read about what's happening in San Francisco?" Nikki asks as Colby and David return with lunch, laughing at something behind her computer with Don.

"Should we have?" David asks, but doesn't wait for a response as he follows Colby into the break room to put down the food.

"Apparently there's a bunch of people calling in to the newspapers and police claiming they saw a floating city in the bay," Nikki says when they come back out, "The count is something like 150 over the past month. There's at least three calls a day and someone even claims to have snapped a picture, look."

She tilts the screen so they can see, and they lean in to squint at the bad resolution, and there is a sort of vague city-like outline.

"Whoever made that could've used some extra practice time in Photoshop," David says, "Are we going to spend our lunch reading about mass hallucinations or eating the food Colby and me so thoughtfully went out to get?"

"Eating," Colby votes, "At least I am."

"Me too," Don says, "I'll start caring when a city appears in the Santa Monica Bay."

"What, so you don't think it's weird that 150 people are all saying there's some mysterious mostly invisible city hidden in the San Francisco Bay?" Nikki asks.

"Yeah it's weird," Colby says, "I also think it's weird that people keep claiming they've been abducted by aliens."

"That's not the same thing," Nikki protests.

"You're not saying you believe there's not actually a city in the bay?" David asks, interrupting her.

"No," Nikki scoffs. "Of course not. I'm just saying there has to be some reason why three people a day are reporting they've seen it."

"It's probably a copycat factor," Colby suggests, and Don nods.

"Yeah, one or two think they actually see it, and everyone else thinks it's funny and go with it," Don says, "The only reason that newspaper ran with it was probably just because it was a slow news day and to satisfy the callers. It'll fade."

"It could just be a stunt," David adds. "In a few days it's going to turn out that some real estate company is trying a new marketing technique."

Nikki makes a face. "I think I like the theory of an actual city better," she says, and the topic dies there.

*

"Apparently you need to be careful of the water up there."

"What? Why?"

"Nikki has this theory that there's something wrong with the water in San Francisco," Colby explains, laughing a little, "and that's why people keep insisting they've seen a city in the bay."

"Oh," Evan says, "That's reached you in LA too, huh?"

"Yeah," Colby says, "Hey, you'd tell me if you saw a city just randomly floating, right? I promise I wouldn't have you committed anywhere."

Evan laughs, the sound slightly off somehow but not in any way Colby can identify through the phone. "Yeah," he says, "I'd tell you. Listen, I'm sorry about this, but I have to go, but I'll see if I can't call again soon now that my schedule should be a little bit more flexible."

"I look forward to it," Colby says, and once he's placed the phone back, he takes his paperwork out of his bag and unmutes the TV just as Dirty Jobs starts.

*

"I'm almost starting to think it's real," Alan says, gesturing towards the news that Colby had stopped on his way into the kitchen to watch.

"Really?" Colby asks, "Are you sure it's not just the quality of the photoshopping that's improving?"

Alan shrugs. "Could be," he says, "But news agencies have methods to check for authenticity of doctored photographs now, and if they're reporting on it, there has to be some grain of truth. The government has kept larger secrets than this."

"What could be bigger than an invisible city?" Colby asks, grinning. The news report is over, and while the mysterious city might have started to migrate off the internet and to the television screen, doesn't mean the rumors are true. "Besides, it's FOX News."

"They hit the mark occasionally," Alan says. "It's been months of these reported sightings. How else would you explain it?"

"I don't know," Colby says, shrugging. "But I think there's a lot of things more likely than an invisible city floating in the middle of the San Francisco Bay. They've sent boats out to check -- they find nothing. If a city was there, they'd crash into it."

"Maybe they're not looking in the right place," Alan says. "All the reports mention an outline of a city -- none of them mention how far off it is or where in the Bay it's located."

"It's a city," Colby says, "How can it hide?"

"Dad? Colby?" Charlie shouts, "Do you need help?"

"No," Alan shouts back, rolling his eyes with a smile at Colby. "We're coming."

*

"How's San Francisco working out for you?" Colby asks, the same question he asks nearly every time Evan calls -- usually only to have the conversation redirected, but this time Evan makes a frustrated noise.

"It's frustrating," he says, "There's -- something gone wrong, but we have no way of fixing it just yet. We're looking, but so far no luck and we're running out of time."

"Engineering trouble?"

"You could say that," Evan says, "But I can't say anymore."

"That's always the case," Colby says, something that's become even more obvious since Evan told him he started working at AFCEE seven months ago. "I hear reports of the mysterious city are increasing."

"Yeah," Evan says, "I think it's hiding from me though since I haven't seen it yet."

"It's probably just shy," Colby suggests and Evan laughs like it's the funniest thing he's heard. When he gets his breath back, he blames it on work stress. Colby lets the excuse go without comment.

*

"You might want to watch the president's press conference on Thursday," Evan's voicemail says, "It'll be...informative. I might be out of touch for a few days after -- sorry."

He doesn't pick up when Colby calls back to ask for clarification.

*

"There's actually a city in the bay," Colby says, and he's so shocked it sounds like there's no infliction in his voice at all.

" _That's_ what you take from this?" Amita shouts at him, a touch hysterical, as on-screen a Doctor Daniel Jackson is earnestly explaining what the Ancients are and why the Earth apparently forgot about them. "No reaction to the fact that apparently there are _aliens_ out there? Who've tried to kill us? Have you considered what this will mean for science?"

Colby knows his reaction probably is just delayed. He'll get home and sit down for dinner and it'll hit him like a semi, but for now he just shrugs and says, "There's stuff trying to kill us down here too. They're called humans."

"Maybe we should be glad we're not the only fucked up species," Don says, and that's apparently all the calm conversation they can have as everyone starts talking at once.

*

It actually takes a month before Colby hears from Evan again. He's tried calling Evan's cell phone several times without an answer, and he also fields a couple of hysterical phone calls from Evan's sister.

  
Colby would be thinking more about how ironic it'd be if Evan actually disappeared just as Colby finds out what top-secret stuff he assumes Evan's been working on, if he wasn't so busy trying not to freak out with the rest of the world.

After two weeks, the message he leaves on Evan's voicemail switches from 'I'm hoping you're still alive' to 'If this is how I'm supposed to find out you've left me for some alien, I'm going to be pissed.'

Then it's back to worrying that something has happened to him, that Colby will never get to hear his side of this story, and dealing with the realization there really is more out there.

Because that month is a chaos of hysterical people saying the world is ending, triumphant lunatics emerging from their mother's basements to declare they were right all along and everyone else wandering around in a state of shock, trying to adjust the new information with the old world.

The mysterious apparently alien city, Atlantis, has appeared completely in the San Francisco Bay. Every day there seems to be a new picture of it in the newspapers with new headlines and incensed articles demanding the resignation of the current government for hiding something so big, so important, and demanding to know how this could have been kept secret for over a decade.

There's practically nothing else on people's lips, and it's understandable. But aside from that, everything continues as normal because it has to. The discovery of not being alone in the universe doesn't mean anyone can stop going to work. There are still dangerous assholes lusting for money or blood, and for a while, getting lost in work is a great way to avoid and deal at the same time.

Still, every day Colby tries Evan's number, because a few days does not mean a month in any terminology. When Evan finally does give signs of life again, Colby had sort of been expecting an extremely apologetic phone call. Instead, he opens his door on Friday and finds Evan standing there, looking about ready to drop.

"Hi," Evan says, although really it's more slurred from exhaustion. "I'm probably going to need some sleep before I can talk."

Colby swallows back every question just as he's done in the past, because he can live with them for another few hours after so long. "Okay," he says, but envelopes Evan in an embrace first.

*

Evan is still asleep when Colby goes to work next morning, and he's half-expecting to come home to find him exactly as he left him on the bed. As it turns out, he's not. Colby finds him on the tiny balcony, looking a little better, but still like he's had a rough time recently.

"A couple of days, huh?" Colby asks, settling into a chair next to him.

Evan turns, the apologetic grimace Colby had been expecting yesterday present on his face and in much stronger form, as he says, "Things got out of control."

"Is this something you can tell me now or is part of the program that wasn't declassified?" Evan shoots him a look, and Colby grins weakly with attempted levity. "What, I know how the government works. They're not going to reveal all their secrets in one go."

"You're not reacting like anyone else," Evan says. "I listened to the messages you left -- it's why I came as quickly as I could. I didn't want this conversation to happen over the phone."

"I did at first," Colby admits, "But it's been a month and I've had a lot of time to think. I'm more interested in hearing what you have to say than freak out and never know. So I've been saving my freak outs for after."

Evan leans over the gap between their chairs, left hand curling around Colby's neck and pulling him into a kiss that's almost hesitant, as though Evan's not sure if it's okay, until Colby kisses back, and then the kiss turns downright desperate but strangely unexpectant. They've never been good at talking over the stuff that really counts, relying more on action to speak their words for them, and Colby thinks the words Evan aren't saying now amount to 'thank you' and 'I will explain.'

They pull apart, and Evan's hand slips from Colby's neck down to his hand as he leans back in his chair, smiling at Colby with a calculating look, like he's not entirely sure Colby's really serious about not freaking out until he's heard everything.

"Bringing Atlantis here took a lot of power," Evan says eventually, after what feels like hours of neither of them speaking. "The city requires power from what we call a ZPM to operate -- if there's no power, the entire city would just shut down. ZPMs are rarely found undepleted though, and we don't know how to make them. That's why people kept seeing it for a second or two, because the cloak was failing due to lack of energy. We finally got a lead on where we might find a new ZPM, but by then we had to make the decision between the cloak and the rest of the city. While everyone started discussing how to reveal the city's existence, what to include in the declassification, I led a team out to find it, because eventually what energy was left in the ZPM would fail to support the systems we required.

"We expected the mission to last only a few days, but the information we'd been given hadn't been translated correctly. It didn't give the location of a new ZPM, just the beginning of the trail, like a treasure map. We went back, got permission to follow the trail and stocked up on supplies before setting off again. The trail had been made to be followed on foot, so it took us longer than anyone expected before we reached the final destination and could return home."

"Was that ZPM-thing there at least?"

Evan nods. "It's not full, but it's 60% which is more than enough to last the city for a long time, especially now that the cloak strictly isn't necessary." He smiles, and Colby finds himself smiling back, head swirling with information he isn't sure what to think of yet.

"I'll go make dinner," Colby says, "Then if you want, you could tell me more about Atlantis."

"Yeah," Evan says and grins. "I'd like that."

*

They talk of Colby's work during dinner, and Colby might have expected the everything to feel a little forced considering they're both waiting for the  
conversation that'll occur after, but it isn't. They talk with the same ease they've always had whenever Evan's back, the only difference being that this time Colby knows _where_ Evan's back from.

After dinner, they settle on the couch. "You were right earlier," Evan says, "They didn't release all the details about the Atlantis expedition or the program behind it. Daniel hated the General for making him give the CliffNotes version, but the ones who disagreed that it'd be a bad idea to let everything be known were badly outnumbered. The military doesn't share all the details on regular missions, on something like this, everything that _did_ get shared had to be voted on. Democracy at its finest."

"In short I'm getting a heavily censored version?" Colby guesses and Evan nods.

"My new non-disclosure agreement prohibits sharing of specific mission details, past and future, and pretty much anything that could give a detailed image of life on Atlantis," Evan says. "When they told me I'd be useful on Atlantis, I couldn't not go. I figured I'd be doing the same thing I did in Cheyenne, but I got command of my own team for rescue situations, and spent too many hours making sure my CO actually finished the paperwork."

"That's what life on an alien city was like?" Colby asks skeptically.

"Sometimes we switched roles, and my CO's team rescued mine," Evan jokes. He laughs a little, the sound sharp and short, and uses his right hand to tug on his hair in frustration. "It's been five years of events that I wanted to tell, now that I can, I'm not sure where to start."

"You were doing well with the beginning," Colby says, "Why not just continue from there? You don't have to tell everything now, but I mean, I assume you've got a couple of days before you're needed back in San Francisco. Whatever stories you have, censored or not, I'll listen."

"I'm not sure I'll be able to spend days just talking non-stop about me," Evan says, "No matter how many stories I want to share."

"So I'll match you, story for story," Colby suggests, "I might not be the one who has had a scary NDA looming over him for the past couple of years, but I still have some stories you don't know."

"Okay," Evan says with a small smile, and starts describing Atlantis in detail, as though he's settled down in front of an easel painting, and with pauses as he makes sure his brush strokes are correct, recording down the truth.

*

Whenever Evan is back in LA, they usually go out once or twice with Cadman or David once Colby's had a small breather after work; but this time, they stay in the apartment in order to talk. They don't talk about Atlantis or the past five years all the time, but the knowledge that they're finally getting to be completely honest -- or at least as honest as Evan's new non-disclosure agreement allows them to be -- is there in every other conversation they have. The knowledge is practically freeing, easing away tension that Colby hadn't even been aware had been there all this time while they had been avoiding the topic, tension that had become impossibly normal through time.

Evan gets called back to San Francisco, or rather back to Atlantis, after only five days. It promises to be a short trip since Evan still has another two weeks of leave, and Colby believes him when he promises to return in a few days.

He spends those days thinking, marveling at the fact that they managed to make any sort of relationship work with this big a pile of secrets between them, and the relief of those days, of those _years_ , being over feels like someone removing a boulder from Colby's chest.

At the same time, it feels as terrifying as any armed lunatic, because he's getting to see sides of Evan he only theoretically knew existed. He can't help but think that something bigger will change than honesty just making things easier, something must give somewhere when such an important aspect of Evan's life is suddenly no longer shrouded in secrets and mystery, like maybe they -- for whatever reason -- won't work anymore.

*

Evan comes back after four days with the explanation of some sort of bullshit meeting about what to do over the television, movie and book deals currently being flung by the handful at anyone even remotely tied to the Atlantis expedition. "It's ridiculous," he says, "Even with the NDAs it's not like anyone would be able to go through with any kind of deal for accurate representation of Atlantis."

Colby gets the feeling Evan's relishing the opportunity to unload on someone he doesn't work with for once, the feeling of being able to talk without worrying you're taking a wrong step. Colby remembers that feeling from when he got out of the Army, remembers it even better from after he was free from espionage.

Evan stops his narration abruptly, halfway through a sentence on some guy named Kavanagh, and says, "I have something to show you."

Colby raises an eyebrow. He's never seen Evan quite like this before, excited and apprehensive; almost, he thinks, like a kid handing a crush a present and afraid it won't be well received, and then he has to stop himself from laughing out loud. "Does it entail going anywhere?" Colby asks, because he's incredibly comfortable right now, with Evan warm against him.

"No," Evan says, "Just wait here." He slips from under the covers and over to his bag, retrieving from it something wrapped in a t-shirt. He returns to the bed, smiling with anticipation, and says, "I talked to my CO while I was back and got him to agree that there was enough of a loophole in our NDAs to make taking this with me, since it's not a weapon or anything remotely important."

"Okay," Colby says, beginning to smile. "What is it?"

"It's an Ancient paperweight," Evan explains, unwrapping the t-shirt to reveal a round grey orb with an intricate design swirling around it. He lifts it up out of the t-shirt, and the minute his skin touches it, the designs start to glow blue. "At least, that's what all the scientists figure. They can't find any other use for it."

"Are you telling me there's an alien artifact _in my room_?" Colby says, even though he can plainly see that whatever it is Evan is holding, it's not from Earth.

Evan grins at him. "C'mon, I didn't bring it just so you could look at it," he says, holding it out to Colby. "But it'll stop glowing once I release it."

"You have to have a specific gene to operate most of their technology," Colby says, "I remember."

He takes the orb paperweight carefully from Evan, and the blue glow flickers before growing brighter and then a low melodic hum. "Uh," he says, flicking his gaze from the orb to Evan, who looks as though he's been slapped. "Does that mean I have the gene?"

"I think I'll have to take you back with me to San Francisco," Evan says, but he's starting to smile, wide and hopeful, as he takes the orb from Colby's hand and places it on the nightstand. "There's probably some scientists who'll want to poke at you a little."

"Oh, well then," Colby says, staring at the now grey orb until Evan places his hand on his hip, and then his attention is completely back on Evan. "With an offer like that, how can I refuse?"  



End file.
